Box Score

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Senior outside hitter Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) tallied a career-high five service aces to help the No. 2 ranked State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team defeat NCAA Division I Sacred Heart University, 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-21), on Wednesday evening.

After trading points early in the first set, the Hawks surged ahead with a 10-5 lead. Despite the Pioneers wrangling the score to two, the Hawks pushed onward to maintain their advantage until a pair of late set kills by Chris Delucie placed the Pioneers, 23-21, behind New Paltz. Sacred Heart cut the score further to one but Bonilla delivered the kill that would hand the Hawks the 25-23 set win.

Sacred Heart jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the second set until a kill by junior middle blocker/opposite Jake Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) handed the ball back to New Paltz, Fishman quickly dished out a service ace to tie the score 10-all before sophomore outside hitter Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) landed a kill to push the Hawks ahead, 11-10. Fishman continued to serve up one ace after another to give the Hawks a comfortable 16-10 cushion.

New Paltz built on its momentum to stay ahead, despite the Pioneers decreasing the deficit to 24-19, and would ultimately seal the set win on another kill by Bonilla.

With a 2-0 lead heading into the final set, the Hawks built up a small 5-1 edge but the Pioneers were quick to erase the deficit for a tied score. Although New Paltz would continue to shake off Sacred Heart, the Pioneers remained on their tail until the Hawks capitalized on several Sacred Heart errors to surge ahead to a 20-15 lead. 

The Pioneers fought hard to close the gap but would come up short as a kill from junior middle blocker Steven Woessner (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) secured New Paltz the set win and the match victory.

The Hawks owned a .349 hitting percentage (41-11-86) for the match while hitting a blazing .524 percent in the second set and finished the night with a total of nine service aces. The Pioneers hit .241 percent for the night and drew even with New Paltz in team blocks (five). 

Woessner landed 11 kills and three blocks, hitting .667 percent (11-1-15) to lead the Hawks. Bonilla chipped in nine kills and defended with a team-high seven digs while Roessler added eight kills. Senior setter Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) doled out 33 assists for the night.

Junior outside hitter Michael Comens paced the Pioneers with 12 kills while junior setter Eduardo Zardo dished out 29 assists. Sophomore libero Joshua Ayzenberg defended with seven digs.

New Paltz rises to 6-2 and now prepares for its home opener against SUNY Polytechnic Institute on Friday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. Sacred Heart drops to 0-6 and moves on to host the Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m.